To maximise the profitability of your web business, you need to find a lucrative niche. Here are some suggestions from seasoned marketer Larry Dotson on the key factors to consider:

Why Am I Here?

OK, so here I am at your website — now give me what I’m looking for!

Your business — and your website need to invite visitors from your targeted niche in and give them exactly what they’re looking for.

And just what is it that they’re looking for?

Well, that depends on your niche, of course. But there are some basic human needs that are common across any business.

So here are some ideas to stimulate your thoughts and provide some niche ideas…

People want to save money.

They may want to invest for the future or save for a big purchase. This will make them feel more secure.

On your web site you could publish articles on how to save or invest money or give them free money-management software.

People want to save time.

They may want to work less and spend time enjoying life’s pleasures. This will make them feel more relaxed.

You could install a time-saving bit of software or a navigation bar on your web site that saves them time when they are browsing or searching through your web site.

People want to look better.

They may want to lose weight, tone their body, or improve their facial features. This will make them feel more attractive.

Give away a free e-book on losing weight – it really doesn’t matter who your target audience is – they are all human.

People want to learn something new.

They may want to learn how to change their car oil or build a patio deck. This will make them feel more intelligent.

You could publish a lot of how-to articles on your web site about things your target audience wants to learn.

People want to live longer.

They may want to get in shape, eat better or gain extra energy. This will make them feel healthier.

Publish some exercise and nutrition strategies and checklists on your web site – it really doesn’t matter who your target audience is as most people want to improve their lifestyle.

People want to be comfortable.

They may want to relieve aches and pains or want to sleep in a more comfortable bed. This will make them feel rested.

You could give away a free report on how to naturally relieve aches and pains for certain parts of the body.

People want to be loved.

They may not want to be lonely any more or they might want to start dating again. This will make them feel wanted.

For example, you could provide some singles, dating and relationship chat rooms on your web site. People will be able to meet new people or find out how to improve their current relationship.

People want to be popular.

They may want to be a famous celebrity or be more popular in school. This will make them feel praised and admired.

You could allow people to submit articles or comments to your web site that you would publish for the world to see.

You could also publish profiles or interviews with your web site visitors.

Be Popular—Give Them What They Want

The most effective way to make sure your website is popular is to give people what they want — and in a way that makes them want to tell their friends, so that your site becomes ‘viral’.

There is no more effective form of marketing than word of mouth and personal recommendation. So give them what they want and they’ll tell their friends about it!

Happy hunting!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Blogging can be the cheapest and one of the most effective ways to profit from the Internet. Here’s how…

What the blog…?

Web Logs – or ‘Blogs’ for short – started as a simple means for providing an online journal or diary, where an individual lets the world know how they think and feel about certain things. If you are a member of facebook.com, myspace.com, or any other social networking site, there’s a good chance you have been writing in a blog – and maybe didn’t even know it!

Blog marketing?

Blog marketing is the use of a blog or blogs to produce traffic for the purpose of monetizing that traffic. Using a blog to market a product or merely as a means of producing online income is much cheaper than using a website. This is because a number of free blog services are available that almost as good as having your own website that costs you plenty!

Because blog marketing has few barriers to entry, it is an excellent way for a beginner to get into the Internet Marketing business.

Due to both the human and Search Engine demand for quality content, it’s very possible to make serious money from creating, promoting, and maintaining blogs.

Turning a blog into a cash machine is relatively inexpensive and can be done by anyone who understands the basics of marketing and the Internet.

Monetise!

So how should you monetize your blog??

Well, that rather depends on what your objectives are and how you’re going to use your blog. The simplest system is to write blog articles that include an affiliate link for them to buy a range of other people’s products.

Or, if you’re looking to build a list of prospects, you can include a ‘name squeeze’ box, where you offer something of value (a free ebook report, software, etc) in return for the visitor’s contact details (name, email address, etc). You can then follow up with an offer that monetizes the list – or you can sell your list to appropriate traders (maintenance, double glazing, office equipment, holidays, property, etc), who pay you for each name supplied.

Topical Passion

Many marketers suggest starting a website on a topic that you are passionate about. But think about it… If you want to make a lot of money on-line you need to blog about profitable topics, ie those with a lot of potential traffic.

This means you need to do 4 things:

1. Identify topics or niches with a lot of traffic potential

2. Constantly add fresh quality content to your blog

3. Get lots of free traffic to your blog

4. Monetize that traffic

So what topics should you pick that will generate a lot of traffic??

There’s no point in starting a blog unless it is geared towards an in-demand, profitable topic. And remember that it’s fairly common for blogs to outrank other websites competing for the same keywords because your blog regularly delivers fresh, quality content.

Also, just because a topic has a lot of competition doesn’t necessarily mean it is not worth starting a blog about – you actually want to work in a busy topic area! See ‘Find Your Niche!’ and other articles in this issue of Web Biz Insider on how to do this.

Once you’ve determined your niche, you’ll need to derive some Keywords that people will search on to reach your blogsite – again see other articles in this issue for some ideas! Then you need to set up your blogsite!

Free Blogsite!

There are many free blog services available but the free Blogger service provided by Google (http://www.blogger.com) is perhaps the best for starters, for ease and simplicity, to create a content-rich blog. The other services available mostly either don’t allow affiliate links display adverts on your blog/website. Blogger allows you to advertise affiliate programs or whatever you want on your blog and places no ads of it’s own on there.

To create your blog, you’ll need a Google account – if you don’t have one go to: https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount, then go to Blogger and follow the instructions to create your blog.

Hot Tip: When you’re setting up your blog, make sure you use your Target Keywords within your URL of your niche blog and in the Title and Description. VERY Important!)

Join Up!

To be really successful at blogging, you’ll need help and support from a community of like-minded people, regardless of what specific Internet business model you decide to operate. So, sign up to one of the many online business forums to support your success. Some you might consider include:

www.bloggerforum.com – Free
www.warriorforum.com/forum – Free
http://forums.digitalpoint.com – Free
www.forumknowhow.com – $ monthly

If you choose a topic with good traffic and spend some time learning about your chosen topic, promoting your blog and adding great content, you should have no problems getting traffic to your blogsite. Then it’s up to you how you monetize your visitors.

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

“When you have a dream,
you have to grab it and never let it go!”

Carol Burnett – Actress

What is your Life Worth?

Where did the last year go? It’s horrifying how fast life slips by, isn’t it?

Did you notice that the kids had suddenly grown up and you’re worrying about your pension?

And what did you achieve last year? What did I achieve?

Well, I’m not going to ‘wash my dirty laundry’ just here, but I know that I would like to have achieved much more than I managed!

You too? Well, think on this then…

How do you value your life? And your time?

Do you earn what you are really worth? As much as you should be paid?

And just… How Much Time Do You Have?

We all have exactly the same amount of time each day…

Are you spending your time…

…or investing it wisely?

Here’s another thought:

Poor People spend Time to save Money…

…Rich People spent Money to save Time!

Which are you?

How Much Are You Paid?

Please can we play a little game? But one that is DEADLY SERIOUS!

Fill in the numbers below — I think you’ll get a something of a shock!

A: How much do you earn each year? $£ …………………

B: How many hours do you work a day (inc travel)? ……………………

C: How many days do you work a week? ……………………

D: How many weeks do you work a year? ……………………

Z: The number of hours you work a year = BxCxD= …………… Hrs

Now work out your hourly rate = A = $£______ = …………… $£ /Hr
. Z ………Hrs

This is the Hourly Rate which you are selling or trading your time for!

=> And this is your ‘Outsourcing Cut-off Rate’
.     (more on that in just a moment…)

At a recent meeting, one business owner worked out that, although he was on a good salary, his effective pay was just £6.78/Hour!

What is Your Time Really Worth?

Before we go any further, let me just pick up on something Armand Morin pointed out at the Internet Success Bootcamp I recently presented in London.

Armand noted that, using his simple repeated and tested formula, he spends only 15 minutes or so preparing a landing page and Adwords campaign for marketing an Affiliate (someone else’s) product.

And just one such product recently earned him around $22,807 in a year.

On that basis – and let’s be conservative and say it actually took him an hour – he earned something like…

$22,000 an hour!

And that’s how he makes $15M-plus a year!

Now…

How About You?

And don’t think that Armand’s earnings are out of your reach.

Do you see that you – yes YOU – could do this through an Internet Business, an off-line business, Property Investment or other business.

And don’t think that “oh, that’s for the clever people – I couldn’t do that!”

This is for Real People – like you and me – the Internet ‘gurus’ all started with next to nothing – or chucked in well paid jobs to start their own businesses.

So why don’t you invest more of your time building your wealth?

People often focus on the short-term goals, rather than the long term – this can be driven by the need for cash-flow to pay the bills. But it also reflects a lack of focus and priority.

But back to today’s subject…

When to Outsource

· If you can get a job done by someone else for less than your
‘Outsourcing Cut-off Rate’…

· (especially if they’ll do it faster/better)…

· Then you can spend your time on more valuable things…

=> Outsource it!

You can outsource just about anything these days, with the help of the Internet. So which should you outsource?

Well, just think what you’re good at and that will earn the kind of returns we discussed earlier in this post – and focus your time on those activities.

And Outsource everything else!

I’ll show you some of things you can easily outsource and how to do it in future blog posts.

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Armand Morin is perhaps the best-known internet marketer of all. With over 9,000 websites in 400 niches, his businesses are expected to bring in over $30M this year — all with a staff of just 6 people! So when Armand speaks – I listen!

And listen I did when he spoke at the Internet Success Bootcamp I presented recently in London. I interviewed him to find out just how he does it and I’d like to share with you some of the pearls of wisdom I gleaned – as they are exactly what we teach, here at Internet-Tycoons.com!

Armand started up on the Web in 1996 when the Internet was a new thing – there wasn’t anyone to show him what to do, so he just learned by trial and error.

However, as he noted… “People starting today have so many advantages, with lots of guidance and simple systems to follow, there’s never been a better time to start a web business! The Internet is changing fast, and change always means opportunity! So get out there and get started!”

Armand went on to note that… “for people starting up now, Information Products are by far the easiest to get going with — but keep away from ebooks on ‘how to make money on line’ — it’s too competitive. Go for a niche where there is a sizable community of people hungry for information on that niche topic.”

“As an example, when the new film of HG Well’s ‘War Of The Worlds’ came out, I sold the book in ebook form — nobody was advertising on Adwords and it was really popular. And I got the book and the rights to sell it completely free, in the Public Domain. We used Adwords and many other ways to market the book.”

“We also put seven Jane Austin books up on the web too, at the time the film ‘Becoming Jane’ was out. The same with Oliver Twist. You can pick up the rights to a whole range of books and publications at one of the Public Domain resource sites like www.Gutenberg.org absolutely free!”

Doesn’t he make it sound easy? So what’s the secret to Armand’s success? Well he let me in on it — and this is very confidential between us…

Armand Morin’s Secret System…

‘Highlight — Copy — Paste’.

It’s as simple as that – from the mouth of the Master Internet Marketer!

“Everybody tries to make it more complicated and makes it difficult for themselves.

“As a result, they don’t get started! Sure, you need to know a bit about web technology but that shouldn’t get in your way, as you can get other people to virtually everything for you.

“I’m not talking plagiarism here — but you DON’T need to be clever — just use material that’s out there and adapt it to suit!

“Look, I had an idea for a useful piece of software one Sunday. By that afternoon I had someone writing the software for me through Elance.com. It was finished within a week and I launched it at $99 a week later and made $83,000—it’s still makes me around $5,000 a month! The simplest ideas are the best!

“The average paperback book will cost you say $15. But people will pay more for ebooks — anything from $27 to 97. By adding an audio version — record yourself reading the ebook — and making a few adjustments, you can make it into a ‘home study course’ — and people will pay $297 to $497. People are hungry for knowledge!”

When I asked Armand what he thought had made him so successful, he responded:

“The real difference between me and most people trying to do business on the internet is approach and focus:

· Most people are looking to make millions

· I’m looking to make only $300!

“I set up websites that will make me just $300 a month. So that’s around $3,500 a year. Not a fortune! But if you set up 100 of these — it’s now a very nice income! And they really don’t take long to set up, particularly if you outsource all the work!

“The odds of you making a website and generating a million dollars from it are tiny!

You may not want to hear that but it’s true — think about it!

“On the other hand, anyone with very little experience and a few hours of training can develop the skills needed to create a $300-amonth income. Then you just need to replicate it 10 times and you’re making $3,000 a month. Duplicate it 50 times and you’re making $15,000 a month! Hire someone to do it for you.”

And that’s exactly what we show you how to do at www.Internet-Tycoons.com!

So I asked Armand the easiest way to get started with a $300-a-month website.

He responded… “Eventually, if you want to make real money, you’ll need your own products. But the easy way to get started is by selling other people’s products — as an Affiliate. It costs nothing and you can even get paid without having your own website!

“Commissions on information products average 35% to 50% — just go to www.Clickbank.com and sign up completely free. Look for products in your chosen niche and select one that seems popular and sells well and gives you a sensible return — you want to make a reasonable margin on your promotional costs.

“All you need is to drive traffic. You can advertise with Adwords but there’s a better way, that’s free! Using the Article Traffic System, you can get links to your website from thousands of other websites and ezines that people read daily. It’s very simple:

• Write an article on your topic — or hire someone to do it for you on Elance
• Submit it to an Article Directory — there are lots on the Web but the best-known is www.ezinearticles.com
• Post your Article to your own Blog — you can get blogsites free but I prefer to put it on my own website with WordPress.
• Send the article to newsletters — there are many newsletter directories on the web — just do a search for your niche.

“Within days or weeks, you’ll be getting free traffic just through natural search rankings. And the best thing is that you can automate most of it, although I like to do the research and the basic web pages myself.”

And just to put this in perspective, Armand noted… “Look, I have around 9,000 blogs out on the Internet, in 300 or 400 niches. How many of those do you think I write myself? We use automatic feeds and outsource the work.”

So what’s the easiest way to develop your own product?

Armand’s view is that he simplest way is to write an ebook, which you can do with no expertise just by interviewing one or more experts, transcribing it and publishing it! The ‘expert’ can be anyone from your local DIY expert or cat breeder to a well-known author or personality.

You need to convince people to contribute to your ebook and they will normally want something in return — whether it’s new customer referrals, or publicity, or whatever.

Armand adds that “my ‘Down and Dirty’ method of ‘writing’ your own ebook very quickly simply is by gathering together other people’s articles on your niche subject. Pick your subject, search for articles on it and collect 50-70. Email each author asking to include them in your new ’book’ (don’t say ’ebook’).

“Two thirds will say yes, so just compile each article in a logical format, remembering to include all the relevant credits you’ve agreed with the authors. How many topics can you do with this method?”

When I asked him about Membership sites, Armand smiled broadly! “Sure! Membership sites produce a recurring income from each particular niche. You just need to make sure you offer great value to make sure the members stay with you!

“I have around 3,000 members paying $29/m, a further 3,500 at $39/m and then 200 members of our premium sites at $500/m and 30 getting on-to-one service from me at $1000/m. That totals around $350k/month or over $4M each year!

So you can see why Membership sites are an attractive business model to him!

With all this, I asked Armadn what drives him — surely it couldn’t be the money?

“Look, I have a great deal — a lovely house and a great family! But there’s more that I want to achieve – this is not the last home I’ll have – I don’t have everything I want and I’ll go on to achieve those things.

“But to succeed, you need vision and goals – my business is very competitive , so I need to be very focussed! When will I think ‘I’ve made it’? Well, I recall Phil Phillips – who wrote the very successful book ‘Body For Life’ – said that “at $100M, I felt that I’d made it”! But I love giving back to the community—and helping other people be successful on the web!”

And Armand’s parting advice to anyone starting up today…? Just 2 Words:

Don’t Think!

Don’t add your own opinion to what works. Success leaves traces – copy the traces. “Just do exactly what I say – I’ve done it all and I know what works! Everything you need to do has already been done – just copy it!

“The longer it takes from idea to fruition, the less likely you are to succeed. So move quickly – you can start making income on line in less than one day! Where else can you do that?”

What more need I say?

Just Do IT!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com